The Punishment Stone

Punishment Stone  - the hole can be seen a foot below the top

A brilliant photo of Canna’s Punishment Stone at Keils, taken by Olivia Abbott, is on the cover of the current issue of Scottish Islands Explorer. Something not shown in that picture, which you can see in the above image of the stone, is the reason for its name. A few years ago, while I was taking photos of the stone, one of the archivists working at Canna House came by. He told me the name comes from an odd hole, a foot below the top of the stone. Supposedly the thumb of the poor offender was jammed in the hole, and they were left there for a while. 

It’s an odd tale. But even odder is that the RCAHMS page on the Punishment Stone references page 205 of Seton Gordon’s ‘Afoot In the Hebrides’. A check there shows that Gordon was referring to a three foot high stone that stands near the Norse Grave, two miles from A’ Chill. Next time I’m on Canna I will have to look for it. And it makes me wonder if the hole in the stone at Keils dates from when soldiers used the nearby Canna Cross for target practice.

Resting in Peace on Muck

While we’re on the subject of unusual graves, let’s jump from one Small Isle to another. This image is of the MacEwen graves on Muck. This mini circle of 16 stones lies on the northwest tip of the island, and memorial plaques are set into three of them. Does anyone know if this was an old cairn that was reused for burials, or was it purpose-built for that?

The Temple-Tomb at Harris

Five miles from Kilmory another set of graves are to be found in the Temple-Tomb at Harris. There’s a stark contrast between this lonely mausoleum and the crowded burial ground at Kilmory. Only three people are interred in Harris: John Bullough, who died in 1891; his son George who died in 1939; and Monica Bullough, George’s wife, who died in 1967. They were the last owners of Rum.

In the hillside above the mausoleum a colorful bit of tile work peeks out from under a mound of turf. John Bullough had originally been buried in a hillside tomb, of which this meager bit of tile work is all that’s left. Apparently someone remarked that the bright tiles resembled a public toilet. So they removed John’s coffin, blew up the tomb, and had the mausoleum built in its place.

Tile work remnant of the old tomb

A Shot of Rum

This is a view of Kilmory on the north end of Rum, which is visited in chapter 28 of book 1. At the center is the burial ground, and far off to the upper right the peaks of Hallival and Askival can be seen.

The Kilmory burial ground has an ancient cross-stone. There is also another historic stone here, one that marks the grave of the Matheson children. Murdoch Matheson had been the Kilmory shepherd from 1855 to 1875. As of September 7, 1873, the Matheson’s had eleven children. Over the next three days they lost five to diphtheria. The tombstone, inscribed with all those young names, is a grim reminder of island life a century ago.

Matheson Tombstone

REBECCA WHO DIED SEPT 1873

AGED 18 YEARS
JOHN WHO DIED SEPT 1873
AGED 12 YEARS
CHRISTINA ANN WHO DIED SEPT 1873
AGED 8 YEARS
MURDO WHO DIED SEPT 1873

AGED 6 YEARS

WILLIAM JOHN WHO DIED SEPT 1873
AGED 4 YEARS

ALL WHICH DIED OF DIPTHERIA

BETWEEN THE 7th AND THE 9th OF SEPT 1873

ARCHIBALD DUNCAN WHO DIED APRIL 1871

AGED 7 MONTHS

SUFFER LITTLE CHILDREN TO COME UNTO ME

AND FORBID THEM NOT: FOR OF SUCH

IS THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN

Crola

One more photo of Kinresort before we move on. This was taken in 2010, two years before the previous photo. In 2010 I came in from Loch Morsgail, followed the Postman’s stones to Kinresort, and spent the night in Crolà at the foot of Beinn Isobhal. (The full story of that hike is recounted in chapter 22 of book 2). The postman’s stones are said to have been placed by Malcolm Macaskill, who lived in Luachair, which is visible in the photo on the far side of the loch. Malcolm is said to have had a stash of whiskey near one of the stones in case some refreshment was needed.

So let’s return to Beinn Isobhal in 2012, the subject of the previous post. After breaking camp in the morning I headed north, as I was going to exit at Morsgail. I found the Postman’s stones and started following them. Halfway to Morsgail a flash of sunlight glinted off something near one of the stones.  I stopped, and saw the tip of a bottle sticking from the turf. I pulled it out and brushed the peat-mud off. It was a whisky bottle, no label, with just a trace of liquid in it. Although it had no label, the cap was readable: ”Robert Watson”, a brand I’d not heard of before.

Could this have been Malcolm's stash? Or just thoughtless litter? I’ve no idea. But someone had taken the effort to bury it next to one of the stones.  I thought about taking it with me as a souvenir, but instead, after noting the location so I could find it again, I shoved it back under the turf. Based on the cap, can anyone put a date on this bottle?

Whisky bottle and the Postman's Stone where it was buried

Beinn Isobhal

To me, Kinlochresort, on the Lewis/Harris border, is one of the most fascinating places in the islands. This view is from a campsite at the summit of Beinn Isobhal. It was a long haul to get there. I started from Uig by hiking the seven mile Burma Road to Tamanavay. From there I climbed to Loch Grunavat, passing an old mill still in remarkable shape. From Grunavat a string of desiccated telegraph poles was followed to the hill of Both an Aird, where I spent some time in a beehive cell high on the hill.

Then I traversed the northern shores of Lochs Bodavat and Isobhal. I was expecting it to be soggy-boggy, but the summer of 2012 was dry, and the grassy terrain, and low streams were easy to cross. Wanting to find a campsite with a view I climbed to the top of Beinn Isobhal. Up there I could see all of Kinresort as cloud shadows flowed over the hills of Harris. To read some of the fascinating history of Kinresort, and nearby Crolà, see Murdo Crola: A learned man and a very talented postman.

Plaque Fragment - Beinn Isobhal Cairn

Atop Beinn Isobhal sat a large cairn. Embedded in it was a fragment of a white marble plaque with just the words “of England’” and “this cairn” remaining. I was not sure if this is the stone commemorating a visit by Lord Campbell, Lord Chief Justice in the 1850s, which Daphne Pochin Mould refers to in West Over Sea (p. 238). Campbell came here to determine the boundary between Lewis and Harris. But what makes me think it was not the stone is the “of England” bit, as I believe Campbell was born in Fife. Does anyone know the full text of the plaque?

Happy Hour on Beinn Isobhal

A beer never tastes better than after you’ve hauled it across a dozen hard miles, the tent has been pitched, and there’s nothing left to do but relax and savour every drop. 

A Summer View to Vatersay

This is a very transitional photo from that of the previous post; both in view, seasons, and centuries. It is Vatersay seen from the summit of Sandray on a warm summer day in 2012; taken 14 years after that snowy sight of Sandray seen from atop Vatersay on a cold winter day in 1998. The moonscape foreground is the glacier-scraped flat top of Sandray.

A Snowy View to Sandray

I was rewarded with this view after a cold, wet trudge up the northern slopes of Heisabhal Mor on a snowy February afternoon. The snow-capped island to the south is Sandray.

Dancing on Dun Caan

It began with a visit to Iona in 1989. Since then I’ve returned to the islands every year. In 1995 I realized I needed to write about these visits before the memories faded, but I never produced anything readable. A trip to North Rona in 2002 was so inspiring that I wrote an article about it in one night. It was published in the magazine Scottish Islands Explorer.

That led to placing several articles in SIE and the Scots Magazine. In 2004 I put 25 of them in book form, and approached 15 publishers over the next six years. I was rejected by them all. During that period more islands were visited, and the book doubled in size. I had almost lost hope of finding a publisher when John Humphries, who’d just taken over SIE, suggested I try The Islands Book Trust.

I sent it to IBT, and they decided to publish it in two volumes. That was another beginning. Where this next journey will end remains to be seen, but it should be a wonderful ride. I started this blog to share some of what’s not in the books, both stories and photos. There are some 250 black and white photos in the two books. My intent is to share colour versions, along with other images not in the books, and some of the stories behind them.